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Warren De La Salle head coach Thaier Makhtar shows off his state title ring. De La Salle has now won the championship in consecutive seasons.
Photo provided by Mike Baldarotta
Senior James Spicuzzi scores and puts his hands to his ears to celebrate the first goal of the game with his teammates. The final score was 2-0.
Photo provided by Mike Baldarotta
GRAND LEDGE/WARREN — Warren De La Salle Collegiate won the Division 2 boys soccer state championship on Nov. 1 at Grand Ledge High School with a 2-0 victory over Hudsonville Unity Christian.
De La Salle has now won a state title in consecutive seasons for the first time since the team took home the Class A championship in both 1992 and 1993.
“It’s our seventh state title. We’ve won five (division) ones and three in (division) two,” De La Salle head coach Thaier Mukhtar said. “We made the final four three years ago without a senior on the team… We work our tail off.”
The path to win the championship this year was competitive, but Warren De La Salle was completely dominant. The team’s talented roster was able to get the upper hand on every opponent put in front of them.
“We outscored our opponents 32-2 in the playoffs,” Mukhtar said. “We had seven guys go all-state.”
One of the biggest factors in the program looking sharp in the postseason is how battle tested De La Salle was. The schedule that Mukhtar puts together every year is unmatched compared to other Division 2 schools.
“One thing you have to remember… Although we’re Division 2, our non-league schedule and our Catholic League Central Division are all Division 1 schools,” Mukhtar said. “I do that on purpose… and now we came back and won the state championship (again).”
Every bit of that preparation was needed against a 19-1-4 Unity Christian team that hardly allowed goals in the second half of the season, and won the Division 3 state title in 2023.
“We had the perfect gameplan against Hudsonville Unity,” Mukhtar said. “They’re very, very good and that’s a very good team… We trained for that.”
De La Salle prepared for the speed and talent of Unity Christian by training against the aggressive transition game that Hudsonville Unity had been successful at all season. The result was a shutout in a state title game.
“They had never been behind in a game all year long. They had only given up three goals going into the playoffs,” Mukhtar said. “We scored two in a half… My boys did a great job.”
One of the two goals the De La Salle scored was on a penalty kick from Nikolai Zacharko just before halftime. Once the Pilots scored that goal, the team never looked back.
“I think it meant a lot, especially to all of the returning players,” Zacharko said. “Hopefully the younger guys that we played with, we left a good example for them.”
One of the many lessons taught by the seniors was how to balance the season. There’s time for work and a time for fun, and this year’s class found out how to get both out of the season.
“I think finding the balance between work and fun is something we started to figure out in training, Zacharko said. “The more that we work hard and the more that we stay focused, the more fun we have.”
The biggest message this team preached this year, however, was to play for the person next to you.
“Not playing for you, it’s playing for your teammates,” Zacharko explained. “You really saw that in the final game with the way we tracked back… it’s about playing for the guy next to you.”
One thing that’s clear, is that the team is already preparing to play for each other again next year.
“Andrew Corder… he won back-to-back championships and he talks about, ‘I want three, Coach.’ Mukhtar said. “He’s determined to win three and he’s pushing for that… that’s their mentality.”
All seven of De La Salle’s championships have been with Mukhtar at the helm, with his first coming in 1990. De La Salle has never three-peated in school history.
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